The Last Time Right-Wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This a President Was Killed

[Octafish]

Something good people of a certain age have been thinking of late:

The Last Time Right-Wing Hatred Ran Wild Like This a President Was Killed

That being John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in Dallas, of course.

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America
Posted on September 18, 2009, Printed on September 22, 2009

I've been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I've watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care 'debate' this summer.

The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama--making him into a vile object of disgust--into a crusade. It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.

But I've been thinking about Dallas in 1963 because I've been recalling the history and how that city stood as an outpost for the radical right, which never tried to hide its contempt for the New England Democrat.

Now, in this this month's Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner offers up in rich detail the hatred that ran wild in Dallas in 1963. To me, the similarity between Dallas in 1963 and today's unhinged Obama hate is downright chilling.

CONTINUED w/LINKS...

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/politics/142726/the_last_time_right-wing_hatred_ran_wild_like_this_a_president_was_killed_/

To me, President Obama represents the newest chapter in Profiles in Courage.

[YOY]

1. Yes but this time if they touch him...blood will flow.

No more Mr. Nice lib.

[Octafish]

4. No more Mr. Nice Lib.

Revenge would perfectly match my heart,
but we have to remember our souls, my Friend.



"I'm my own police."

[Initech]

5. Damn straight.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Yes, but he's our JFK with much better Secret Service

[Octafish]

7. And so I hope.

Here's the Secret Service at Love Field, a few minutes before President Kennedy died.

Note Agent Henry Rybka's "WTF" body language:



Serious as a heart attack.

[jgraz]

3. Kennedy was not killed by a disgruntled reich-winger

And none of these teabuggers will ever get within reach of Obama. We should be worrying about progressive members of Congress and the media.

[Octafish]

16. Regarding the Liberal Media and Liberal Leadership...

Our side did not investigate a certain agency that had its fingerprints all over Oswald and "his" rifle, much to our nation's harm.

THE JFK ASSASSINATION II: CONSPIRACY PHOBIA ON THE LEFT

[timeforpeace]

6. As often as this is mentioned here, some of you seem to be hoping for it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Pointing parallels in history does not mean you wish for them

to happen....

But then again for some folks that is the only thing they can think about.

Sad, truly...

[tavalon]

10. People, myself included, are worried

It's insulting that you would denigrate my and other's fears by saying we seem to be hoping for it.

[Octafish]

11. That's a sad thing to say, timeforpeace.

Not that it's done any good, judging from what I, too, have read, heard and seen. Truth, is: I've worked to bring to light the traitors who killed President Kennedy since the time I was six years old.

I don't know about you, but here's what I write about:

Know your BFEE: It wasn’t Obama who Looted the Treasury and Banks. It was Bush and his Cronies.

Know your BFEE: Goldmine Sacked or The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

Know your BFEE: Spawn of Wall Street and the Third Reich

Poppy Bush brought up JFK Assassination and "Conspiracy Theorists" at Ford Funeral

Know your BFEE: Poppy Bush was in Dallas the day JFK was assassinated.

Dunno what yours is like, but November 22, 1963 has made mine a sad countenance.

These writings, it is my hope, spur the day when ours is again a nation of laws.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Oh get out of here!!!

nothing like this could ever happen again... :sarcasm:

Yes, some folks have a problem comprehending that we have been here before.

[Octafish]

22. Richard Helms tried to make it out that JFK ordered hit on Castro.

Weird, most swells usually don't like getting their hands dirty.

THE KENNEDY-CIA DIVERGENCE OVER CUBA

So did E Howard Hunt, Richard Nixon and who-knows-who-else.

US-Cuba Relations - CIA Assassination Plots by DUer Mary Conway.

Thanks for remembering the, uh, synchronistic timing, nadinbrzezinski

[AsahinaKimi]

12. OMG...

Manchester discovered that in a wealthy Dallas suburb, when told that President Kennedy had been murdered in their city, the students in a fourth-grade class burst into applause.

That is some kind of sick...

[Octafish]

17. Manchester was given bad info, FWIU.

Kids too young to understand what had happened cheered when school let out early.

Manchester was really wrong about something else, too:

THE STRANGE ACTIONS (AND INACTION)OF AGENT EMORY ROBERTS

[DLnyc]

25. No, I think you are wrong. I have heard this directly from a friend who was

in such a classroom in Oklahoma. The OP is right that it is something to fear, but I think the hatred at that time, largely connected to the question of integration, pretty well dwarfs the trumped up 'outrage' today over the technicalities of how much health care reform is going to impact corporate profits.

There's a lot of hatred flying around now, but in '63 you were talking about murders, not insults.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

29. Kids cheer, but try not

to believe everything you hear. A fourth-grade class having any concept of a President being killed, and cheering?

Come on. Kids cheer for all sorts of reasons. I've met a whole bunch of people who claim they knew people who died on 9/11, in the WTC buildings, but, in fact, they didn't. Everyone likes to be connected, in one way or another, to history, and they come up with these stories that can never be verified.

I just keep my tongue in my cheek and nod. It's not hurting anyone, but this old chestnut has been around forever. If all the classes who allegedly "cheered when told the President had been killed" were gathered for a reunion, we'd have half the population of the US, it seems like........................................

[DLnyc]

30. A friend of mine, who was most likely in about seventh grade at the time,

quite vividly recalled most of the class deliberately, slowly, clapping when the news was announced on the PA. Primary sources are my preferred form of information, and I'm going with this one.

Try not to let your idea of what you would like reality to look like prevent you from learning something new once in a while.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

31. They probably clapped

because it meant they were let out of school early on a beautiful Friday afternoon...........

[DLnyc]

32. No, they probably clapped because poor white people in Oklahoma on

November 22, 1963 hated John F. Kennedy's guts.

But don't let annoying facts impact your gauzy view of history.

Rock on, dude.

[PSzymeczek]

41. That's a probability.

But I know my dad was happy that he was killed.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

45. A lot of people were -

he wasn't a popular President. Remember how close the vote was?

We forget, in the mists of memory, that he was not universally loved. Nor was he universally mourned.......................

[Octafish]

36. Sorry. I'm also wrong about Manchester's mistake. The one I was thinking of is worse.

In William Manchester's book, Death of a President, we read the "official story" of what happened:

"Kennedy grew weary of seeing bodyguards roosting behind him every time he turned around, and in Tampa on November 18 (1963), just four days before his death, he dryly asked Agent Floyd Boring to 'keep those Ivy League charlatans off the back of the car.' Boring wasn't offended. There had been no animosity in the remark." (1988 Harper & Row/Perennial Library edition, pp. 37-38)

The thing is PRESIDENT KENNEDY NEVER SAID THAT.

Not until 35 years later do we learn the truth, though, when the great investigator Vincent Palamara asked the Secret Service agents who were there what happened in 1963:

Agents Go On Record

Regarding your friend's observations from the classroom on that terrible day: Incredible and terribly sad.

They didn't understand what JFK meant for the nation. He pointed America toward the moon and worked every day in office to keep the peace. What have we had since then?

What's sadder, the children in Oklahoma probably grew up thinking it was normal to hate people who believed black people were just as valuable to God as white people.

[DLnyc]

40. Yes, a lot of people in that part of the country in those days grew up with a

pretty deep hatred of a lot of things. It's still an ugly place in many ways, I think, but people should understand the hate was really on the murder level then. Murder still happens, as recent memory recalls, but I don't think it has quite the social acceptance it did then.

By the way, my friend, like many other people from Oklahoma, grew up to be a wonderfully kind and creative individual. So did Woody Guthrie. But any understanding of this country requires, I think, an understanding that (a) some of it ain't too damn pretty and (b) today's theatrics are ugly, but not on the level of, say, lynchings, McCarthyism, hatred and violence over integration in the '60's, . . . yet.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. I just read that article -

it's not well-done. That story has been around forever, and no one can ever pin down where it happened. Apocryphal.

His description of Jackie Kennedy and the world leaders walking "down Constitution Avenue" from the Cathedral where the funeral was held was completely wrong. Constitution Avenue isn't anywhere near the church, but, yes, they did walk that walk.

Taking a lot of liberties with Manchester's research, which was never double-checked. The article was fun to read, but in terms of delivering any substantial new information about JFK's assassination, it failed.......................

[Retired AF Dem]

13. I really doubt that that Oswald could

be considered right wing. I mean really him wanting to be a Commie and all.

[Gman]

14. Oswald claimed he was a "patsy"

a useful idiot.

[Retired AF Dem]

15. Doesnt matter, Oswald was a communist

wanted to live in Russia and hated JFK for the bay of pigs. People hate believing that only a single person can change history. Oswald only killed a single person, now Gavrilo Princip, a handfull of shots from a little .32 was responsible for a couple of world wars that killed close to 100,000,000. people.

[Maccagirl]

18. If Oswald hated Kennedy and was a true Commie

the law of unintended consequences has ruled since 11/22/63.

[Gman]

19. Even Princip was part of a group and a conspiracy

he didn't act alone and I don't think Oswald did either. I think Oswald was a useful tool for the rabid RW.

[Retired AF Dem]

21. If what you say is true about Oswald being a tool for the rabid RW

why were the Democrats still in power after JFK died? Princip was part of a conspiracy but he took it upon himself to be out there to change 20th century history. Booth was also part of a conspiracy but only himself and one other attempte to pull it off. Oswald was a loser that decided to say "hey look at me".

[Gman]

24. Your question makes no sense in light of the history.

Is your assertion that the RW sought to change the government through Oswald? It certainly is not mine. If so, they failed miserably for many reasons. It wasn't going to happen as the generation that grew up during the Great Depression under Roosevelt would keep the Democrats in power no matter what. Neither Eisenhower nor Nixon ran as RW nuts when they won.

There were many possible reasons Kennedy was killed with just plain old hate being towards the top of the list.

[DLnyc]

27. I feel skeptical at the precision of your knowledge, considering there was

never an open examination of the facts and evidence. Were you working on the Dallas police force or something? How can you be so certain of what actually happened when all the evidence was locked up for decades?

"Oswald was a communist . . . wanted to live in Russia and hated JFK for the bay of pigs" is just one of many stories put forward. I don't know of any significant reason to believe that tale over others since, again, no objective examination of the evidence was ever allowed.

I read that we went into Iraq because Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and was behind 9/11. It's not, in fact, true; but I did read it. I don't know if you were around at the time, but there were many more people then that felt the 'official' stories smelled like old fish, than there were recently who doubted the 'official' story of why we were going into Iraq. If you catch my drift.

Specifically, official stories can be bullshit.

[Octafish]

20. The people Oswald hung out with certainly were.

David Ferrie was so right wing, he was a nut about it.

... as were a few others, including Guy Bannister and Sergio Arcacha Smith.

Anyone know how DDP Richard Helms fits in?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

23. They weren't so open about their hatred, either. On the other hand,...

,...the "right-wing" conglomeration of corporateers, theocrats and biggots risk losing ALL INFLUENCE if they arrange destruction of President Obama. Their hatred never gets in the way of maintaining their influence/power.

Yes, the recent hatred certainly chills all Americans, even those too young to recall the struggles in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

This time, the right wing is completely dependent upon mass dissemination of its propaganda, upon which it can no longer rely.

If they are so bold as to do the unthinkable a second time, they will not escape the engagement of the American people, AND THEY KNOW IT!!! They dare not do so,...

[GodlyDemocrat]

26. Clinton was just loved by the right wing ...

:sarcasm:

[TxRider]

33. They killed Clinton??

It seems to me the right is simply replaying the exact rhetoric, the exact tactics etc. they used when Clinton tried to fix health care.

[GodlyDemocrat]

35. Exactly, Kennedy was killed because of poor security not political mood

Every President, both Democratic and Republican is in danger of being murdered. FDR and Truman were. JFK was killed. People were arrested for attempting or conspiring to kill Nixon, Ford, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. Reagan was hit but he survived.

Certain people have always wanted to kill the leader of the free world regardless of who he may be.

[EFerrari]

37. The assassinations of the sixties cannot be attributed to poor security. n/t

[GodlyDemocrat]

44. Riding in a convertible?

Read the Dallas Morning News the week prior to the assassination. There were foreboing alarm bells raised about the security of JFK's trip to Texas ... discussion about a glass bubble being put on the convertible to discussion about Adlai Stevenson having been spit at in Dallas just two years prior. (You may only be able to do this if you're in the North Texas area.)

FDR and Truman only narrowly escaped assasination attempts. Both attempts resulted in someone else dying (a Chicago mayor and a Secret Servic agent respectively).

[DireStrike]

34. See but Kennedy wasn't killed by some random jackoff

As you surely well know, better than myself most likely.

Do you think the manufactured right-wing fervor is really a sign about what the dark under-institutions are thinking? I think a lot of the visible hate is racism, and the real powers of the dark side don't place that high on their priority list, do they?

Until Obama steps on some toes in terms of reorganizing or abolishing certain agencies or sending certain people to jail, I think he'll be fine.

[Octafish]

39. That's the thing: Gov. Siegelman is not a free man.

Should Holder go after Canary and the rest of the traitors at Just-Us, it would lead to Turd Blossom and the Little Turd from Crawford hisseff. You know where that leads, my Friend.

Same happened to Fitzgerald, the guy found an Oval Office full of traitors. Remember The Good Shepherd? These, eh, sophisticates believe they are better than the mob. That's why they can kill so many and get away with it.

No, the Big Cheeses don't give a rat's ass about Joe the Plumber or Racist Joe Blow. Like fear, they use hate as a method of mind control.

With two catastrophic wars, including an exhausted Army and Marine Corps; a collapsing "financial sector" and who-knows-what-else, Obama's got his hands full. He needs We the People to get his back.

[Jakes Progress]

38. What they did then

was wind up the dumb asses of the world so that they (right wing power brokers) could use them as patsies for murdering two Kennedys and a King.

[Kievan Rus]

42. Don't worry, seriously. The Secret Service is MUCH better prepared for nutjobs these days

[mucifer]

43. If you watched Letterman closely last night you could see hidden secret service people

in the set. It made me feel better.

[maxpower]

46. This is one of my biggest fears

I send positive vibes to him and his family everyday. If it happens again, I fear a civil war.


Peace,
Max

[bobthedrummer]

47. Kick